by C. A. Harms
Before I could stop myself, I had tucked Alena behind me and was rushing off to save the fucking day. If not for Austin’s sake, I should have let Stacey get her ass beaten.
I grabbed Stacey around the waist and pulled her back as she wiggled in my arms. Everything happened so fast. She spun in my arms and threw herself at me, gripping the back of my neck so hard, her fingernails dug into my skin.
“What the fu—?”
Her mouth covered mine in the most demanding kiss I’d ever been a part of.
I gripped her arms tight and pushed her back. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
She looked up at me with a blank stare, and I could tell she was completely inebriated.
“Sorry,” she slurred. “Looks like I pissed off your girlfriend.” She gave a sadistic laugh, and my stomach felt like it hit the floor. I looked toward the place I had left Alena and found she was no longer there. As I scanned the bar, I caught the back of her head as she walked out the front door of Roger’s, Bailey and Amber following closely behind.
I was now beyond pissed off, both at myself and at Stacey. “Ry,” I hollered out over the noise of the bar, “call her ass a cab.”
“Hey, Noah, I got her, man,” Booker said as he took a step in my direction.
“You ain’t got shit. And if your ass knew what was good for you, you’d back the fuck away.” I didn’t have the time or the restraint to deal with this dick right now.
He held his hands up in surrender, and I was torn over what to do. I knew Alena would be fucking pissed, but I had to get Stacey in a cab. After that, I would call her dad to warn him what he was about to face, and then I could fix this shit with Alena.
I led Stacey to the bar and forced her to take a seat at the end. “Stay,” I demanded, and she glared up at me.
“I’m not a dog, you asshole,” she slurred.
“No, you’re not, but you are a woman who stepped over a fucking line, and I’m holding on by a thread here. So shut the fuck up and wait for your damn cab.” I ground my teeth in anger.
“You don’t have the right to tell me what to do.” But I sensed the hesitation in her words. She knew she was digging a deeper hole.
“I may not have the right, but I will assure you that if you continue to fucking push me, I’ll have your ass arrested for public intoxication and assault.” I got within inches of her face, and my nostrils flared. “So keep fucking with me, and you’ll be spending your night in a dirty jail cell.”
I waited for her to counter, but this time she chose to listen.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Alena
I had sent a text to Trinity practically begging her to come and pick me up. My heart was racing, though if I was being honest, it was aching.
“Len.” I jumped at the sound of Amber’s voice and turned to find her and Bailey approaching me. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” I insisted. The lie made my throat burn.
“Come back inside.” Bailey reached out for me, and I shook my head.
“No, I’m tired and drunk.” I forced a laugh. My head was spinning and things were a little fuzzy. I also just needed some space.
“We all know that kiss was one-sided,” Amber said, and I closed my eyes tightly, taking a moment to fight back the tears.
“Yeah, I know.” I knew Noah didn’t intentionally go to Stacey so she could kiss him. However, he did push me aside to rush to her aid. That’s what had upset me. There was bar full of people, bouncers included, yet he had to be her hero.
I was just about to explain why I was upset when a cab pulled up in front of the bar. Movement in the bar’s doorway caught my attention. I watched as Noah led Stacey outside and carefully placed her inside the backseat of the cab. After he shut the door, Noah walked around to the driver and pulled out his wallet, offering the man money. I watched this entire thing with a knot lodged in my throat.
“No matter what, I think he’ll always take care of her. They have a bond that I think he feels obligated to,” I whispered.
I looked behind me at the sound of tires crunched against the gravel of the parking lot and saw Trinity driving up in my car.
“Alena, don’t leave without talking to him first.” I could hear the panic in Bailey’s voice.
“I think I need to clear my head. Being drunk and trying to have a serious conversation don’t mix.” I opened the passenger-side door just as my name was yelled out across the parking lot. I didn’t have to turn to know it was Noah. I crawled inside the car and shut the door.
“Are you okay?” Trinity asked in concern.
“No, but can you just drive?” I said without taking my eyes off my hands in my lap. A loud slap on the window made me jump, but I remained looking downward. “Please, just take me home.”
She pulled away slowly, and I ignored him as he yelled after us.
“You do know he’s not gonna stay away.” Trinity’s whisper filled the darkened car.
“I know,” I replied.
And she was right. The phone calls started almost immediately, followed by text messages and voice mails.
Within minutes after I arrived home, he was beating on my door. I sat at the top of the steps holding my phone tightly. I didn’t want to have this conversation with him when we had both been drinking. People say things they can’t take back when alcohol is involved, and I didn’t want this to be a yelling match.
Me: Just please give me tonight. We can talk tomorrow.
I sent the text, hoping it would make a difference. The knocking silenced only for a few seconds before it began once again.
“Open the door, Alena,” he demanded, and I buried my head in my hands. “I’m not leaving until I see your face.”
What the hell did that mean, anyway? Why did he insist on seeing me?
His knocking grew more impatient, and I became more anxious. I carefully slid down the stairs until I was on the last step, close enough to see his shadow through the curtain-covered window.
“Open the door, sweetheart.” The sad way he said it hit me dead center in my stomach, making me feel sick. My chest tightened and my throat burned. “Please, baby,” he begged, and I caved.
I stood and twisted the lock. Before I could turn the knob, he was pushing open the door and rushing to me. Taking me in his arms, he squeezed me almost too tight. I could feel the desperation in his grip.
“I’m sorry, fuck, Alena,” he breathed into my neck. “It wasn’t because I felt the need to protect her. I know that’s how it looked. I felt like I was protecting Austin by stopping it. I didn’t want to have to hear my son ask why his mother was in jail. I acted out of impulse.”
I stood frozen as Noah held me tightly, explaining something I hadn’t even asked him to.
“Never once did I feel protective of her, or however the fuck it appeared. I should have just walked away and let her get her ass handed to her. I wish I had now, because I never expected her to pull a stunt like she did.” He still hadn’t let me go. “Just say something, because your silence is killing me.” He leaned back and looked at me.
“I don’t know what to say,” I confessed. I’d had all these reasons why I should be mad, a list of reasons why the way he rushed to her was wrong, but now I had nothing. The moment he confessed why he went to her, all my anger left me.
Yes, I was hurt. I mean, watching another woman kiss the man you love was something no woman ever wanted to see. Especially when that woman was his ex-fiancée. But being mad at Noah felt sort of childish now. I had sobered up a little too, and now I was thinking more clearly.
“Yell at me. Whatever it takes for us to move past this together, do it,” Noah said in a strained whisper.
“I don’t want to yell at you.” I shrugged as my lower lip trembled. “I’m not mad.”
“You’re mad,” he insisted.
“I was,” I added before I took in a calming breath. “I was pissed and hurt. I wanted to say that if she meant so much to you t
hat you had to leave me to save her, then we shouldn’t be together.” His eyes widened as he squeezed me tighter. “But now I don’t feel that way.” His features relaxed, yet he never released me, not even a little.
“Now the only thing I have running through my mind is fear.” My voice vibrated as I spoke. “Fear that my crazy actions could have pushed us apart. I should have stayed and listened to your reasoning, but I ran.”
“You were hurt,” he replied as if that made my reaction okay.
“I shouldn’t have run. It was a stupid reaction.” Now that I was thinking clearly, I realized just how immature I’d been. I knew Noah loved me, and he had told me so many times that what we had was real. Stacey was his first love, yes, but that love had long since faded. It was something I had to let go of. They would always be connected because of Austin, but that was the only reason.
“I love you, Alena.” He rested his forehead against mine. “No one could ever change that.”
“I needed to hear that,” I said in return as the tightness in my chest slowly faded.
“I’ll never stop saying it.”
A single tear escaped down my cheek. Silence set in as we continued to stand in the open doorway holding one another, the last hour slowly becoming a fleeting irritation that no longer felt important.
“Do you want me to leave?” His question filled the silence, and I whispered a no in return. “Good, because had you said yes, I would have had a long walk home. Jackson wouldn’t let Bailey leave my truck. He said if I needed a ride to call, and being the stubborn ass that I am, I would have just walked home.”
I smiled because I knew he wasn’t lying, then reached down and took his hand. I pushed the door closed with my other hand, locked it, and led him up the stairs.
As we walked past the living room, Trinity waved at us with a knowing smile. “Good night,” she said as we went down the hallway.
“Night,” Noah said with a soft chuckle. “She really is a sweet girl. I’m glad she has you.”
I closed my bedroom door behind him and began removing the clothes I had yet to change out of.
“I’m actually really glad I have her,” I confessed. “She’s become a really great friend.”
Noah sat down on the end of my bed, watching me as if what I was doing was fascinating. He had a way of making me feel like I was the center of his world when I was doing the simplest of things. As I slipped a nightshirt over my head, I turned to face him, and he held out his hand. “Come here.”
And I went to him without hesitation. I was sure I needed his touch just as much as he needed mine. As he wrapped his arms around my waist, he rested his head against my stomach and took in a deep breath.
“I don’t like when we’re apart.” He sounded sad, and because his face was snuggled against me so tightly, his words came out muffled. “I hate when we fight. And I hated the look in your eyes when you opened the door tonight. I don’t like the idea of you hurting.” He looked up at me, and I combed my fingers through his hair.
“I’m sorry about earlier.”
I placed my finger against his lips to stop him from apologizing any further. “Don’t,” I said. “It’s over and we learned from it.”
I waited to remove my finger from his lips until he nodded in agreement. Lowering my hand, I placed my lips against his. Slowly, he rolled back onto the mattress, taking me right along with him.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Noah
I watched Austin out of the corner of my eye as he imitated my movements. He was holding a toy hammer and had his shirt off just like I did. I had decided to build a tree house in the old oak tree just to the left of my back deck. I knew it would be the perfect placement for me to be able to sit back and watch my son play, and one day maybe another child or two.
At that thought, I looked up to see Alena sitting on the deck, her feet propped up on the railing as she read the book she’d been glued to for the last few hours.
“Like this, Daddy?” Noah asked as he tapped away at the screw with a plastic hammer.
I chuckled as I grabbed the screw. The way he was beating on it, he would break his toy.
“Come here,” I told him as I motioned with my hand.
He laid his toy down and eagerly moved in my direction, positioning himself in front of me.
“Like this,” I said as I placed his hand on my drill, then covered it with my own. The moment I pressed the button and it began boring out a hole, Austin’s face lit up with amazement. He looked back over his shoulder, so proud of himself. It was one of those moments I could have watched over and over, had I been recording his reaction.
“I did it,” he said with a smile that took over his chubby little cheeks.
“You sure did, buddy.”
For the next hour, he stood before me, insisting on drilling every hole and screwing in each screw as I absorbed every excited laugh and toothy grin he gave me. We didn’t accomplish as much as we would have, had I gone solo, but the time I got to spend with my son was the best part about my day. These were times I would always remember, times I would treasure.
The woman I loved was by my side to witness it all too. And that just made everything that much better.
Epilogue
The Wedding
Alena
After long, grueling hours and after pricking my thumb hundreds of times with more than a few needles, Bailey looked absolutely gorgeous. The wedding dress she and I created together fit her flawlessly.
“It’s perfect,” she whispered. I looked up toward the mirror, and my eyes met hers in the reflection. “I knew it would be amazing, Alena, I never doubted that.” She swallowed hard and closed her eyes for a moment as if to gain control of her emotions. Slowly, she opened them and met mine once again. “There isn’t anything I would change about this dress. It’s truly gorgeous.”
Amber stepped up to her left side, and we all admired the dress and the beautiful bride wearing it.
“Ladies,” Tammy said softly from behind us.
When we turned around to face her, I noticed the skin around her eyes was red. She had been crying. I could only imagine how much she wished her husband could have been here for her son’s special day.
She took a step closer and suddenly wrapped us all in a group hug. “I thank the Lord every day that you beautiful girls came into our lives. Not only have my sons fallen in love with each one of you, but I have too.”
The love of a mother was something I rarely received. My mom felt showing any kind of emotion was just a sign of weakness, so I’d stopped trying long ago to get her to give me just a small sign that she had a sliver of love for me. So when Tammy got all loving and caring on me, I accepted it without even the smallest hesitation.
“We love you too,” Amber replied, and Bailey and I quickly agreed.
“Now let’s dry our eyes and get out there. Wedding number two is here, only one more to go,” Tammy added with a bright smile as she looked over at me and winked.
Being Noah’s wife was something I often daydreamed about. And one day maybe that dream would become a reality.
***
Noah
I had tried to focus on the wedding, I truly did. The only problem was the little fact that Alena looked un-fucking-believable. She never carried herself as if she thought she was gorgeous, but she truly was. She had that mesmerizing beauty, the kind that sucked you in and lost you in its orbit if you looked too long.
Austin was off with Ma, who was parading him around the room, introducing him to everyone, and from where I was sitting, I had a perfect view of the entire reception. Alena was on the dance floor with Bailey, Amber, Trinity, and Olivia, who were forming their own little dance circle in the center. Ryan and Jackson stood near the bar, carrying on with Aunt Bess and Uncle Trent. The room was overflowing with family and friends who came to celebrate with Bailey and Jackson.
But no matter how often I scanned the crowd, my gaze would always float back to Alena. Her smile was
captivating, and it did something to me each time I saw it.
When the music changed to something slow, my legs moved on their own accord. I had a sudden urge to hold her in my arms. Jackson and Ryan must have had the same idea, because they too were moving across the room in search of their wives.
When I had gotten within just a few feet of her, Alena looked up and met my gaze. The sweetest smile spread across her lips, and I felt it deep within my stomach. Each time she smiled at me, the effect her happiness had on me grew more intense. I tilted my head to give her that longing, sexy grin, the one she’d told me on more than one occasion that she loves. I wove my fingers through hers and locked them together tightly. When I pulled her toward me, she followed without any hesitation.
“Hey, beautiful,” I whispered as I lowered my lips to hers. When a soft whimper fell from her, I only grinned wider. I pressed my forehead to hers and took a moment to just hold her in my arms.
“Dance with me?” I asked, and she nodded her head against mine.
I led her toward the center of the room, where my brothers were already spinning their women around. For the first time in a long time, I felt like I had it all. I had a loving, supportive family, a son who had now become my best friend, and a woman I loved and adored. I felt like I could finally breathe and let go of all the hate I’d felt for years.
I knew I would still have issues with Stacey, because she wasn’t the type of person to bow out gracefully. I had made it clear to her that my heart was in Alena’s hands now, but if she needed a daily reminder, I would be happy to offer her one. Because I may not have seen Alena coming, but she had knocked my feet from beneath me, and I planned on spending the rest of my life showing her just how much she meant to me.